How to Get Hot

When most of us hear the words "hot group," we think of Casey Kasem
and America's Top 40. Not Jean Lipman-Blumen, Ph.D. She thinks of
intensely focused work groups whose enthusiasm gives new meaning to the
expression "I love my job."

Unlike most work teams, hot groups become so emotionally involved
with their task that they actually behave like people in love. "The
excitement of the task and the interaction that comes with it can be an
enormous turn-on," says Lipman-Blumen, professor of organizational
behavior at Claremont Graduate School. As a result, hot groups often set
performance records and even volunteer for extra work.

Sounds like every manager's dream--but there's a catch. Such groups
are hard to create, and when they do arise they are often short-lived.
Their unorthodox work habits and tendency to isolate themselves from the
parent organization can incense management, hastening their
demise.

But other times they hit the jackpot. Consider Apple Computers,
started by a hot group of free-spirited twenty somethings striving to
build a computer for the masses rather than large businesses. Taking on
corporate goliath IBM spurred them to create the revolutionary
Macintosh.

Alas, there's no simple formula for spawning hot groups. Like
hothouse flowers, they're exquisitely sensitive to their environment and
wilt for no apparent reason. But you can optimize conditions for their
growth:

o Offer workers a thrill. Crises and intense competition are the
most powerful external motivators of hot groups. Any provocative project,
however, can excite passion and intensity.

o Feed their soul. Hot groups are inspired by the search for truth
and the feeling that they're making a difference. "Their task has to have
meaning to people, society, and the organization," says Lipman-Blumen.
That's why hot groups are particularly common in research
institutions.

o Provide a connective leader--an individualist with a team-player
mentality (and the subject of Lipman-Blumen's book, The Connective Edge).
Such leaders are willing to share both the work and the glory.

o Banish bureaucracy. Freedom is essential for hot groups. Workers
quickly lose enthusiasm when entangled in red tape.